Disruptions are almost always annoying, at least they are at first. By very definition, they interrupt familiar routines and challenge normal expectations. Regardless of their source, disruptions always manage to capture our attention, at least for a moment or two. Depending on the surrounding context and potential impact, they evoke varying responses. Unintentional and minor ones, like a cell phone ringing in the midst of a meeting, for instance, might create a frown or two, but no one’s going to whip out a camera, record the incident, and alert the national media.  Disruptions like that are usually just absorbed and overlooked. Those that are significant, purposeful, persistent, on the other hand, are a different matter. They don’t just interrupt standard procedures, they challenge them. But the disruptions most feared by staunch defenders of the status quo are those that not only challenge familiar standards, but offer viable and desirable alternatives. 

Jesus–A Divine Disrupter ~
It doesn’t take a seminary degree or a divine epiphany to recognize that Jesus was a disrupter. When He came on the scene, the religious and social norms of the day were not just interrupted. They were challenged in ways no one had ever imagined. He refused to sacrifice truth in order to cater to familiar customs and traditions that God never authorized. He challenged pointless, oppressive rules and rituals instituted by authoritarian religious leaders. He ignored social boundaries that further victimized the poor, the physically disabled, and those declared to be ceremonially unclean. Jesus openly exposed hypocrisy, contradicted erroneous teaching, and fearlessly confronted those who promoted and defended ideas and practices that were contrary to the Word of God. 

As such, He represented an intolerable threat to the Jewish powerbrokers of His day. He did something worse than disrupting their established standards and procedures. He offered something better. Jesus offered freedom from the bondage of fear and the relentless burden of religious legalism. Beyond that, He gave them something that their current leaders never gave. Jesus gave them love with no requirements, hope that was not a fantasy, joy that defied grief and pain, and peace that seemed circumstantially irrational. And He made all of it freely available to everyone. That made Him dangerous. That made Him an existential threat to their system, their lifestyle, and most of all, to their power to exalt themselves and control others.

The Push Back Begins ~
So it isn’t surprising that they retaliated. They accused Jesus of being a religious heretic, a political insurrectionist, a social contaminant, and a demonically-empowered, blasphemous renegade. The religious establishment used every traditional, cultural, political, and religious tool at their disposal in an effort to eliminate the threat He posed. They were relentless in their efforts to denounce His message, discredit His miracles, and disqualify Him as a rabbi of Israel. 

Yet none of their accusations could stop the crowds from seeking Him out. Their condemnation of Jesus could not suppress the life-changing power of His message. His voice resonated with divine authority when He spoke of a Kingdom where forgiveness, freedom from sin, and eternal life were offered to all who would believe. Beyond that, His words were reinforced by demonstrations of power that could only come from God. 

In the end, it was obvious that even subjecting Him to death on a Roman cross, the ultimate example of public humiliation and torture, was not enough to stop Him. They would soon discover that the disruptions He caused during His rather brief ministry were only the beginning. Those that would erupt as the news spread that they couldn’t keep Him in the tomb would eventually be repeated throughout the world. Now, for over 2,000 years, every form of false religion and ungodly world system has tried to quell the disruptions to their power that Jesus’ followers have represented. And they fail every time–unless and until His professed disciples stop following Him and embrace the devil’s seductive lies.

Positive Possibilities ~
On the surface, being thought of as a disrupter might not be a very appealing personal characteristic. That’s because most disruptions tend to be considered unwelcome and intrusive, and we don’t want to be seen that way. But maybe that’s jumping to a hasty and unfair conclusion. Jesus was a serial disrupter, and He was a living, breathing demonstration that disruption can be a good thing. 

As Jesus prepared to take on everything the consummate forces of hell could deliver and to disrupt the power of sin and death forever, He had a special time of communion with the Father. In the course of offering a kind of spiritual status report, He included this about those He was leaving behind: 

As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (John 17:18 NKJV)

Later, after His resurrection, He reiterated to them clearly and directly . . . He said:

So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. (John 20:21 NKJV)

A Sobering Commission ~
Every follower of Jesus is commissioned to carry on His disruptive influence wherever we go, and one of the first questions that comes to mind is, “What does that look like?” We’re quick to declare that we can’t heal the sick like He did. We can’t restore sight to the blind like He did. We can’t walk on water, calm storms, multiply food, turn water into wine, and we certainly can’t disrupt funerals by bringing dead folks back to life. The challenge seems overwhelming, but before we give up and declare defeat, we should take another look at the profound dissertation found in Matthew 5-7 that we’ve come to refer to as the “Sermon on the Mount”. 

At least one of Jesus’ objectives in delivering that message was to describe what life in His Kingdom would look like. In it, Jesus unveiled the extent that God had in mind when He gave Moses some of those commandments. The contrast between what the people had been taught and what Jesus was presenting was stark to the point of being shocking. Imagine the kind of positive disruptive influence that people living out those principles would have on the prevailing spiritual, moral, and relational status quo.

Targeting Deeper Levels ~
For instance, in a world where being “blessed” was associated with things like economic prosperity, health, security, comfort, social acceptance, personal accomplishment, and freedom, Jesus introduced a disruptive new set of definitions. He repeatedly addressed common, but erroneous, interpretations and assumptions about God’s commandments and prohibitions. He made it clear that unlocking the full preventive and protective benefit in some of them required looking deeper than the superficial acts alone. He illustrated that both righteousness and sin live below the surface and the reality of the presence of either is affirmed when they emerge as behavior, not just by verbal affirmations or denials.

We are surrounded by a culture proving every day that a fallen human being’s capacity for moral decadence is a bottomless pit. Our children have become the targets of predators hiding behind titles, academic degrees, corporate positions, and professional licenses. Our freedoms are sacrificed on the altar of “woke” politics. Economic sanity has been surrendered to war mongers and Wall Street money manipulators. Major cities have become a concrete jungle where human beings are living on the streets like animals, and where lethal drugs, sexual assaults, random violence, murder, and anarchy reign unchecked. Justice and righteousness have been assassinated by leaders who are disconnected from reality and consumed with their own narcissistic ambitions. 

The challenges are overwhelming, but there’s good news. Jesus has a plan for disrupting the proliferation of evil and it hasn’t changed in over 2,000 years. It’s simply to send followers like you and me to be disrupters in His place. We’ll have more to share along these lines in upcoming weeks, but being an effective disrupter begins by inviting the Spirit of God to disrupt any sinful attitudes or behaviors that have crept into our own lives. To the degree that we do that, we’ve already begun to make things better. 

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter.

• • “It doesn’t take a seminary degree or a divine epiphany to recognize that Jesus was a disrupter. When He came on the scene, the religious and social norms of the day were not just interrupted. They were challenged in ways no one had ever imagined.” @Gallagherspen (Click here to Tweet) 
  • “Jesus refused to sacrifice truth in order to cater to familiar customs and traditions that God never authorized. He openly exposed hypocrisy, contradicted erroneous teaching and fearlessly confronted those who promoted and defended ideas and practices contrary to the Word of God.” @Gallagherspen (Click here to Tweet) 
  • “Jesus’ voice resonated with divine authority when He spoke of a Kingdom where forgiveness, freedom from sin, and eternal life were offered to all who would believe. Beyond that, His words were reinforced by demonstrations of power that could only come from God.” @Gallagherspen (Click here to Tweet) 
  • “The contrast between what the people had been taught and what Jesus presented was stark to the point of being shocking. Imagine the positive disruptive influence that people living out those principles would have on the prevailing spiritual, moral, and relational status quo.” @Gallagherspen (Click here to Tweet) 
  • “Jesus has a plan for disrupting the proliferation of evil, and it hasn’t changed in over 2,000 years. It’s simply to send followers like you and me to be disrupters in His place. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)    

Check out Ron’s book, “Right Side Up Thinking in an Upside Down World ~ Looking at the World through the Lens of Biblical Truth” 

 The Kindle e-version is just $1.99. No Kindle device is needed. E-book readers are included on most computers, tablets, and smartphones. If you don’t have one, the free Kindle app can be easily downloaded directly from the Amazon site on almost any device.

Click here for a “Look Inside” preview at Amazon.

© 2023 Gallagher’s Pen, Ronald L. Gallagher, Ed.S.  All rights reserved.